Sony wants an 'iTunes' for movies

Sony is planning to make 500 films available online from next year, reports BBC News. The model, according to Michael Arrieta, senior vice president of Sony Pictures, would be Apple's iTunes music download site.

There remain big issues to giving people more access to films and other digital content anywhere, anytime.

Issues over protecting and controlling the distribution of content once it has been legally downloaded and moved to a portable device, for instance, still concern the movie industry.

But with the growing popularity of powerful portable entertainment devices, such as Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP), which can play movies and other multimedia content, it is becoming a pressing concern for the industry.

Westway axed

BBC World Service radio is planning to axe its twice-weekly serial, Westway, reports The Stage.

A spokesman for the Corporation said: “We are changing our English programme schedule. Weekdays will feature greater factual content, whereas arts will play more heavily at the weekend. We are not turning our back on drama.”

Tranter warns of BBC drama cutbacks

The head of BBC drama commissioning [Jane Tranter] has admitted she will have to start making shows on tighter budgets to meet director general Mark Thompson's 15% cost-saving target.

There's a full report of Tranter's comments in Media Guardian (free registration required).

"The new drama series commissions that come through will have to be made for less money. The cost per hour in some areas is going to go down. But it's not about working people harder to do the same amount of output. Yes, it is taxing, but for me it's about managing the mix of the drama portfolio," Ms Tranter added.

Self-published success

Inspiring stories in The Independent for anyone thinking of self-publishing. Non-fiction tends to do best - The Pocket Book of Patriotism has sold over 167,000 copies - but Dominic Prince's article also finds some fiction successes.

A guide to self-publishing was distributed with the New Year 2005 issue of the Guild's magazine, UK Writer. Additional copies are still available - free to Guild members, £3 for non-members.

Full details can be found on the Guild's website.

Nicola Shindler - Red Productions

Top independent TV producer, Nicola Shindler, is interviewed in The Stage. Having worked with Russell T Davies and Paul Abbott she knows all about good writing.

She is however, always on the look out for something new and original, particularly as feels really good screenwriters are few and far between. She confesses: “I think there are very few talented writers in the world, I really do. I actually believe calibre will out - so if someone is good enough and has written a script - as long as they send it somewhere it should get recognised at some point. In all honesty a lot of scripts that get sent in are terrible.”

Red Productions operates a policy where every script that gets sent to it is read and while Shindler acknowledges it is rare that something comes through this way, it does happen.

“If we get a script we like then we’ll get the writer in to talk to and we get some scripts in from agents. Reading everything is our way of giving something back and it is not that we necessarily want only new writers - it is important to give people access who might not get it anywhere else.”

Book reviews reviewed

Criticising the critics, at Beatrix(USA).

How did this season's hot books generate their heat? And why do other novels surrounded by buzz turn into duds? Beatrix openly speculates about these questions in the form of a "book review review." I'll watch the major book reviewers to discern patterns of taste and/or critical strategy, and sometimes I'll follow a book through the review matrix to see how opinions coalesce or wildly diverge.

Footballers' Wives

The return of Footballers' Wives for a fourth series prompts praise from Mark Lawson in The Guardian.

Last year, I heard Zöe Lucker (who plays Tanya Turner, the fatal female of the series) being interviewed on radio. When she spoke glowingly of the show, the host put her down with: "It's not exactly Shakespeare, is it?" But this comment is at least half-wrong. While even an aficionado has to acknowledge that the dialogue rarely matches that of the Stratford dramatist - "I was pissed and she was rat-arsed" is a representative line from the series four opener - the plots are firmly in the classical tradition: all double weddings, mistaken identities and, to start off the new series, swapped babies.

Copyright dispute hangs over blockbuster

American author James Reston Jr is claiming that the forthcoming Hollywood film Kingdom of Heaven, directed by Ridley Scott, has violated American and international copyright law by using "events, characters, scenes, descriptions and character tensions" in the film that were "strikingly similar" to his narrative history Warriors of God: Richard The Lionheart And Saladin In The Third Crusade.

The studio releasing the film, 20th Century Fox, have rejected the claim but, according to the New York Times, the dispute looks set to run and run.

Mr. Reston insists that his history of the Third Crusade, when Richard the Lionheart tried to wrest control of Jerusalem from the Muslim conqueror Saladin, fleshed out many obscure details from the period and brought to life minor historical characters who turn up in Kingdom of Heaven. The book, published a few months before 9/11, has sold about 100,000 copies worldwide.

BBC Last Laugh - updated

You can now download all the scripts for the BBC's Last Laugh sitcom writing competition. To enter the competition you need to complete one of 8 original sitcoms that have been written by established comedy writers. The first 20 minutes of a half hour sitcom has been written - you have to write the final 10.

The closing date for entries is 6 May 2005.

Andrew Davies on Bleak House

King of the adapters Andrew Davies talks about tackling his biggest project to date - BBC1’s forthcoming epic 16-part serial of Bleak House - and admits Dickens’ labyrinthine plotting has almost got the better of him.

There's a full interview by Rob Driscoll in The Stage.

“On the plus side, Dickens gives you such strong lines of dialogue and there are all these wonderful, grotesque characters you can really run with,” says Cardiff-born Davies.

“But plot-wise it’s a nightmare, because it is so convoluted and keeps spinning off into sub-plots. Your main concern is to keep focused on the central plot, that the whole audience can follow. In truth, when you get down to the finest detail, quite a bit of the plot doesn’t work, so you have to straighten things out. But every problem is an opportunity in disguise and I think we’ve cracked it.”

Fincham to head BBC One

Peter Fincham has been confirmed as the new Controller of BBC One, reports BBC News.

Mr Fincham is credited with the smooth merger of independent production companies Talkback and Thames under the banner Talkback Thames, in 2003. He left the company in January.

He said that his new job had a "clear focus", and his appointment represented a change within the BBC.

"Appointing me, as an outsider, who has never worked at the BBC is a sign of an outwardly facing BBC," he said.

ITV staff to strike

Production staff at ITV have voted to strike over pay, leaving shows such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale facing possible disruption.
Broadcasting union Bectu said 55% of its members voted in favour of walkouts over a below-inflation pay offer.

Staff were angry that executives were being awarded large share bonuses, said Bectu assistant general secretary Gerry Morrissey.

The union expects to announce dates for strikes after Easter.

More details from BBC News

British Council - New Writing Anthology

Submissions are being accepted for New Writing 14, published by the British Council.

Writers from the UK and the Commonwealth are encouraged to submit short stories, poetry, essays or extracts from work in progress. The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2005.

The work must be unpublished and not be due for publication until at the earliest January 2007, and the author should be willing to give the British Council electronic rights for 2 years following publication, plus translation rights and other sub-rights to be confirmed. There is no limit on the length of pieces, but constraints of space mean that longer items will stand less chance of acceptance. Submissions should be sent in triplicate, clearly typed, double-spaced, page numbered and with name and address on each piece to:
New Writing
Film and Literature Department
British Council
10 Spring Gardens
London SW1A 2BN

There's been some controversy in recent days about comments made by Toby Litt and Ali Smith, the editors of New Writing 13, criticising the standard of submissions, particularly by women writers. There's some response on today's Guardian and a letter from Litt and Smith themselves.

Playwright slams

Theatre and Beyond and Chichester Festival Theatre are looking for writers who want to play and experiment with their work for their Playwrights Slams 2005.

You can find full details on the BBC Writersroom website.

Unions give BBC strike ballot deadline

The three biggest broadcasting unions, Bectu, Amicus and the NUJ, have told the BBC to issue a three-month moratorium on redundancy plans or face a strike ballot on 4 April, reports BBC News.

"There is a strong feeling of anger among staff over these job losses," said Gerry Morrissey, assistant general secretary of Bectu.

"They believe the director general has lost touch with what should happen at the BBC.

"A lot of these decisions appear to be politically motivated and the director general, chairman and BBC governors have decided to beat themselves up before the government does so."

Unions have warned the BBC could face "severe" industrial unrest over the massive job cuts announced last December and earlier this week.

BBC to cut 2,000 programme jobs

The BBC is to cut more than 2,000 jobs in its programme-making divisions, reports BBC News. Among the job cuts is a reduction of 150 in "drama entertainment and children's by 2008", but a lot of the details are still sketchy. The National Union of Journalists say that the cuts will "rip the heart out" of the Corporation.

Monday's announcement of 2,050 losses comes after news earlier this month that 1,730 jobs would go in support services such as finance and personnel. The 3,780 represents 19% of the workforce.

The latest cuts will be made across the production divisions from TV and radio to news and new media.

[Mark] Thompson [Director General of the BBC] said it was "a difficult and painful process but necessary". The cuts and savings will be made over the next three years.

Money saved would go back into programmes, including drama, news and local output, he said.

Alan Plater night on BBC Four

This Saturday, 26 March, is Alan Plater night on BBC Four. The long-standing Guild member, CBE recipient, and doyen of British TV writers, will be celebrated with the screening of a special documentary and plays/films including Last of the Blonde Bombshells and The Land of Green Ginger.

Arts Council England announces funding strategy

Arts Council England (ACE) has announced a three-year funding strategy, reports The Stage. Following a funding freeze from Government, ACE have told 121 organisations that they will no longer receive funding.

Announcing the cuts, acting chief executive of ACE Kim Evans said organisations facing reductions were those that received less than £20,000 annually from the funding body or, in cases such as Arts & Business, had the resources to make up the difference from elsewhere.

“We have had to make choices and these choices mean that some organisations have had to fall out. The policy decision to look at those on less than £20,000 would have been done anyway but not all of them and not necessarily now,” she said. “If you received less [than £20,000] it is not the best way to fund you.”

However, 60% of organisations currently funded will receive increases, some in excess of inflation.

Law attacks NYMT funding cuts

Jude Law has written to The Times protesting about the failure of the Arts Council to award a £100,000 grant to the National Youth Music Theatre, reports BBC News.

[NYMT]chairman Maggie Semple said an Arts Council-commissioned review initially recommended a "substantial" award for the company.

"They encouraged us to go through this lengthy process," she said. "They commissioned this report, and at the end of all that, 14 months later, they're now saying 'no'."

"If they had told us nine or even six months ago we wouldn't have made the plans that we have," Ms Semple added. "They have irresponsibly led us along."

The power behind the mini-series

From Media Guardian (free registration required)

This Easter ITV's drama blockbuster is Colditz [written by Peter Morgan], and at first sight the glossy mini-series about Europe's most haunting war prison seems to have "Granada classic" stamped all over it. Damian Lewis, of Band of Brothers, The Forsyte Saga and Jeffrey Archer: The Truth, stars as the first escapee from Colditz. Andy Harries, of Cold Feet, Life Begins and Dirty Filthy Love is executive producer. But at the screening Harries was overshadowed by Justin Bodle, 44, the co-producer, whose little-known London-based company, Power, contributed 40% of the £6m budget.

Maggie Brown's article looks at the success of Bodle, and his criteria for an international hit mini-series.

Laura Mackie, the BBC's deputy drama controller, says Bodle is more than just a financier: "Power's primary creative input is in the casting, mainly because they need internationally recognised names to sell their shows in as many countries as possible. They have some involvement in scripts, and the vision of the piece. So far it has worked well."